"Here's to the three birds! May you always have a bird on the table, a bird in your glass and an eagle in your pocket."

I first heard that toast when I was very young from an elderly neighbor. It was a toast from her childhood in the early 1920s. The toast her mother and uncles always used. Already something of an antique in Jazz Age America.…

Part 3 of 3 of the Series 'We Will Probably Land Christmas Day’: At War in the Atlantic, 1942 

This…

Linen Hall Library A 17th century portrait of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone.

CÉADAOIN -- On December 24, 1601,…

In January 2015, Fordham University Press released "The Sons of Molly Maguire." Mark Bulik’s upcoming work is the latest in a line that characterizes Pennsylvania’s alleged “Molly Maguires” as Roman Catholic…

William Paterson (December 24, 1745 – September 9, 1806) was born in County Antrim to William Paterson and Unknown named mother. (How about it, Ireland – who is she?) He immigrated to the U.S. at the age of two, and entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton…

As Christmas approached in 1776, George Washington and his…

Garden City, N.Y. -- “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” is the opening verse of a song sung by Tara O’Grady at the Irish Cultural Society meeting on December 10,…

Search for the Facts

Mark Bulik’s upcoming work, "The Sons of Molly Maguire," is the latest in a long line that characterizes Pennsylvania’s Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) men charged as “Molly Maguires” as transplanted…

What is the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard? Graveyards are in the "yards" of churches.  The use of tombstones may go back to the belief that ghosts could be weighed down. 

The difference between Union and…

John P. Joyce is a name that would not be familiar to most people around the world, and even in his native Ireland.  Born in County Galway in 1839, Joyce was a pioneer in the development of professional baseball in the United States, and specifically in Ohio.  Along with Harry…

Growing up in north Jersey, my father was a pro at finding inexpensive things to do in Manhattan and often took my sister, Eva and I there for an…

History, as written, is not always accurate. Revised versions of past events are often presented to support conclusions already reached - political or otherwise. Sadly, many of these revised versions are presented as fact in our school books like the discovery and conquest of…

My first address after my arrival in the United States in 1994 was on Twentieth Street in Rockford, Illinois.

“Twenty goes all the way to the Pacific,” stated the late Roy Talkington who was good enough to provide my family with accommodation.

Twentieth Street was…

Library of Congress Gen. Michael Kelly Lawler

DOMHNAIGH-- On Nov. 16, 1814, Michael Kelly Lawler,…

James McHenry (November 16, 1753 – May 3, 1816) was born into a Scots-Irish family in Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland in 1753.   Sent at age 17 to North America McHenry lived with a family friend in Philadelphia before deciding to finish his preparatory…

Together, We Can Honor Their Extraordinary History

In Pennsylvania in the 1870s, tens of thousands of Irish Catholic men gathered together as members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. These Irishmen tried to…

by Bill McGimpsey

Alexander Hamilton died on the 12th of July, 1804. If he had not rowed his boat…

In the over 150 year history of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the United States Highest award for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of  life…

George Michael Cohan was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and producer. Assumed by many to be Jewish because of his last name, which was really Keohane! Known in the decade before World…

Allow me to introduce myself to The Wild Geese social network.

I am an expert on International and Irish Cuisine.  I am the pioneer of the new Irish cuisine movement dating back to 1960. My work as been acknowledged worldwide and I have been a TV guest on RTE…